This column reports on three unrelated outcomes about which you need know to manage critical cleaning work, and points out their significance.

IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL WE SAY IT’S OVER... IT’S OVER!¹
Trichloroethylene (TCE) has been found to be a human carcinogen.

In early October, EPA released its final health hazard assessment categorizing TCE as “...carcinogenic to humans and as a human non-cancer health hazard...” This assessment is part of EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) which conducts scientific reviews of laboratory and epidemiological data upon which some agency decisions are based.

Many had thought it was so, for years, and managed their affairs accordingly.

Many others had chosen to believe that it was not so, and used it per NESHAP equipment requirements because of the absence of other options. That dearth of options hasn’t been returned to abundance by this news.